Windows Media Center

With Windows 7 you have a built-in entertainment hub known as the Media Center.…By using the Media Center, you can gain quick and easy access to all of your…movies, your music, photos, Internet, TV and lots more.…So let's take a look at it now.…You can access the Media Center from the Windows Orb.…I am just going to type in 'media'.…You can do the same in the Search field, and at the top you'll see there are a…couple of programs with the word media, one of them being the Windows Media…Center, so we'll select that.…

If this is your very first time, there will be a setup that needs to be run.…After that, you'll simply see the default screen based on the setup you chose.…If you ever need to run the setup again, right from your Media Center, move down…to the bottom of the screen near the left-hand side when that little arrow…appears, scroll all the way down to task.…You'll find Settings and give that a click.…Select General and then move down to Windows Media Center Setup.…It's from here where you can run the setup again.…

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Author

Released

10/22/2009

In Windows 7 Essential Training, David Rivers helps users of any level feel comfortable with the improvements and enhancements found in Microsoft's operating system. From simple navigation through the updated graphic user interface, David shows how to install or upgrade and get the most out of Windows 7. He covers using the new Internet Explorer 8 and boosting a computer's memory with the ReadyBoost tool. He also highlights hardware configuration options and explores the advances made connecting a home or work system with Windows Live, the cloud-computing environment made available for Windows 7 users. Exercise files accompany this course.

Topics include:

Running Windows XP programs within a Windows 7 installation
Accessing favorites quickly through jump lists
Establishing user settings through Windows Explorer
Setting up a home network with Homegroup
Displaying similar sites with suggestions in Internet Explorer 8
Syncing photos on two computers with Live Sync

Skill Level Beginner

6h 31m

Duration

1,359,175

Views

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Q: Is there a way to share files and printers between computers on network running Windows XP and Windows 7 without using the HomeGroup share method of Windows 7, since XP does not have this feature?

Q: Is it possible for a computer running Windows XP to join a Windows 7 HomeGroup?

A: Unfortunately, only Windows 7 supports HomeGroup. If the Windows XP computer must connect with the Windows 7 computer, there are have two options:

1. Upgrade the XP machine to Windows 7 and joining will be no problem.
2. Change the Windows 7 HomeGroup to a regular Workgroup and the XP machine will be able to connect to it.

Here are the steps to changing a HomeGroup to a Workgroup:

On the Windows 7 computer, click the Start button at the bottom left of the screen.

Go to the Control Panel and choose Network and Sharing Center.

Click the link for "View your active networks.”

In the next window choose "Work network." That will switch the group from a HomeGroup to a Workgroup so the two computers can talk to each other. However, the same workgroup name and share folders in Explorer must be assigned to both computers before they can be networked.

For ease of use, if there is already an existing HomeGroup on the Windows 7 computer, upgrading the XP machine to Windows 7 would be the recommended course of action. There is a course in the Online Training Library, Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7, that explains the steps for transitioning to Windows 7.